The Ultimate Evolution - Chapter 850

Chapter 850: Fatal crisis

The mage apprentice, Hants was truly unlucky . While he was nervously preparing all the materials for the medicine, he found that the Athelas herbs couldn't be prepared according to his teacher's instructions . That's because Hants couldn't find Old Steger's old cat anymore . He suddenly remembered that the old cat had been brought to a village 3 days ago .

Sheyan then asked a question that he would come to regret for a long time .

"Um, Mr . Hants, what does Athelas have to do with a cat?"

Hants solemnly replied .

"Athelas isn't really a rare herb . In fact, it can be found around the Shire . However, if we want to lift the Black Breath, we would need to use its seeds . Now, Athelas seeds are much rarer . They are highly poisonous so we normally use them to produce poison . This poison is very popular among hunters . "

"I still don't understand what that has to do with a cat?" Sheyan continued with his enquiry .

"Please be patient while I explain, sir . . . . Because the Athelas seed is poisonous, we must be very careful with its preparation . We must first remove the poisonous outer layer of the seed . Even if a tiny bit of the poisonous layer is left, it would severely affect the potency of the medicine . Therefore, we must let a cat swallow the seed first because its gastric acid can perfectly remove the seed's outer layer . Then, we have to extract the seed from the cat's body before its gastric acid can penetrate into the inner part of the seed . "

Melody asked nervously .

"Doesn't that mean we have to kill the poor cat?"

"Oh, we're not that cruel . If we kill the cat then mice will run wild in our shop . More importantly, the composition of the cat's gastric juice will change following its death, which will destroy the seed . We only need to feed the cat some medicine that would irritate its stomach to let it vomit out or dispense out the processed seed as waste . Which route the seed takes to come out will depend on the cat's mood . "

Sheyan's expression had turned extremely ugly by this point . On the other hand, Reef brimmed with schadenfreude as he smashed any false hope Sheyan may harbor .

"Excellent, Mr . Hants . I must applaud you for your vast knowledge! I have a question for you, just one - is the medicine prepared with the processed Athelas seed a consumable medicine or an applied ointment?"

The apprentice then gave an interesting answer .

"If the Black Breath affected the outside of the victims body, then applying the medicine on the skin would show better result . But if the Black Breath lied inside the body, then the medicine has to be consumed . "

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Old Steger only came back after 2 hours . His mood seemingly hadn't changed for the better after talking to the administrators . The poor apprentice experienced another wave of shouting .

With the price of 2 platinum coins, Old Steger found a mountain goat to "process" the Athelas seeds . Sheyan used the excuse of taking a look at other magic shops to escape the scene .

The potion produced was an extremely disgusting thick substance that was yellow-blackish in colour . The wisps of smoke escaping from the potion had a brownish-yellow colour to it . The smoke would obstinately circulate in the air for a long time without dispersing .

Old Steger vigorously stirred the potion until it no longer produced any smoke, then passed the potion to Sheyan . Sheyan could only shut his eyes tight and "drank" it . Rather than drinking the potion, it's more accurate to say Sheyan forced it into his stomach . He held his composure for 10 minutes before screaming miserably and retching out every last drop of the potion .

As if his disgusting vomit had a life of its own, it congealed into multiple bug-like creatures . The bugs jumped actively like they each possessed a soul . Old Steger was ready for this . He had prepared a wooden pail beforehand filled with privet leaves and oriental sweetgum flowers soaked in water . The creepy creatures hissed inside the water and dissipated into thin air .

Sheyan leaned on a chair and took in large gulps of breath . He only managed to compose himself after a long while . Even then, he looked like he had just recovered from from a severe illness . The good news was that the stubborn debuff on his body was finally removed . The treatment method of the old Hobbit was a bit disgusting but at least it was effective .

Franklin looked around in the shop and purchased some useful potions including some cold resistance potions, evocation strengthening potions, fountain of magic potions, etc . They were rather expensive, but Franklin didn't seem to be short on platinum coins . He even passed 3 potion bottles to Reef and Sheyan .

The first was an infrared vision potion . Upon consumption, one would possess a strong night vision comparable to a wild animal . The previous battle with the Ringwraith in the dark probably left a deep impression on Franklin .

The second potion was called [The Obstinacy of the Dwarves] . The main component of the potion was supposedly the beard of a Dwarf . It contained a mysterious power that would significantly improve the balance of the user . The user would find it hard to fall down even if their legs were attacked .

The last potion was something that was specifically brewed to combat against the power of darkness . It had a strange name called [Darkness Sponge] . Upon consumption, it would harden one's skin to absorb 50% of damage from dark energy . The duration of the potion was 24 hours, or until 1000 points of dark damage had been absorbed .

Sheyan and co . did not linger for long after their shopping spree . They headed directly to the Shire's teleport formation . As expected, the teleport formation was a money-swallowing device . It charged an astronomical fee of 100 platinum coins, each . There was even a footnote in the operational rules that stated: materials must be provided by the users themselves .

Fortunately for Sheyan, the doors of the Dwarven mining warehouses were kept open for him . Thus, he did not lack the materials required for the teleportation . The high quality gemstones from Moria guaranteed a smooth operation of the teleport formation . Even the waiting duration for the teleportation process was shortened by a few minutes .

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Eriador presented a contrasting sight to the gentle and beautiful Shire .

If the Shire was like a smiling, innocent girl, then Eriador would be like a muscular man in animal skin, bellowing fiercely with his upper body bare!

This was a rough place . Even the air seemed to be screaming, and reeked of blood .

Only such a rough and brutal place could remain so close to the Dark Lord's territory . It provided endless valuable resources to the entire Middle Earth .

The ruler of this place was Lord Silon, who maintained the rarely seen slavery governing system on his land . Only such a tyrannical ruling method could maintain order in such a place . As Sheyan's group travelled along a road built from a kind of red stones unique to this area, they saw many things that couldn't be seen elsewhere .

For example, the patrol squad they encountered . The captain was a fully-armoured human, but following behind him were 10 enslaved half-orcs . These half-orc slaves were caught when they were young and were brought up here . They had bloodshot eyes, wore quality armours, and were equipped with axes and shields . If the squad were to meet with any danger, the captain would whip them, and the half-orcs would charge towards the enemy like pedigree hunting hounds .

From Sheyan's estimation, a fully-armoured half-orc should have almost the same battle capabilities as an Uruk-hai . At least, that would be the case in individual fights .

Despite having such a heavy atmosphere, Eriador had a point in common with the Shire . As long as one had the money, one could obtain what one desires .

It would take a while to reach the Dwarven outpost in the outskirts of Angmar . In addition, the land they pass through from now on would be as barren as the Gobi desert . They would need some local camels as to use as mounts . In fact, they needed 3 camels each . Not only could the camels act as transports, they could also provide food and water in an emergency .

There was also something else they direly needed:

A guide .

They had to travel through the Gobi desert with no GPS, no compass, no aeroplane and no mobile phone . Furthermore, their destination was Angmar, which could be said to be the nest of demons . Getting lost was a scary prospect .

The only requirement for obtaining a good guide was enough money, which luckily they do not lack . But while they were waiting, Sheyan heard some whispers .

"Another batch that wants to look for the outpost of the Gray Dwarves?"

"A total of 5 caravans have already sent supplies of salt and ales to the Gray Dwarves this year . What else can they get from that bunch of stingy Dwarves?"

"But it's weird . It's been a while since the group of outsiders led by Samomo departed . They should have returned by now . I didn't hear of any sandstorms occuring lately . "

"That doesn't matter . Even a world-destroying sandstorm is nothing to Samomo . "

For some reason, Sheyan's heart felt heavier after he heard this conversation . He shook his head to clear his thoughts . The only things he could do now were to choose the best camels and offer more money to their guide to make haste .

Therefore, after merely 30 hours, they arrived at the Dwarven outpost at the cost of 10 camels dying from exhaustion .

This was a strange, wind-eroded place . The wind blew through a large number of mushroom-shaped rocks, bringing with it the damp, dark breath from Angmar which contained the acrid stench of blood and rotten bodies .

In front of Sheyan was the bloody mess of a large-scale massacre!!!!

The target of his main mission, the Gray Dwarves residing on the outskirts of Angmar, were all killed!!!!